1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to rendering of a three-dimensional (3D) image, and more particularly, to an adaptive rendering apparatus and method using a hierarchical structure in a 3D image, which adaptively renders the 3D image by dividing it into a plurality of lattice cells in a hierarchy and arranging cell data corresponding to the lattice cells according to the hierarchy, and a computer-readable recording medium storing a computer program for executing the adaptive rendering method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Realizing very realistic 3D images has always been one of the most important goals in the field of 3D graphics. Nowadays, very realistic 3D images can be realized based on recent developments in modeling and rendering technologies.
Conventional rendering methods include a rendering method using a polygonal model, a streaming QSplat rendering method, a rendering method using a 3D mesh, and a rendering method using a binary space partitioning (BSP) tree.
In the rendering method using a polygonal model, the amount of data required for rendering a realistic, complicated image is very large, and thus, the rendering speed is very low.
The streaming QSplat rendering method and the rendering method using a 3D mesh cannot compose a 3D scenic image but can render a 3D object image.
On the contrary, the rendering method using a BSP tree cannot render a 3D object image but can compose a 3D scenic image.